Women find success on Massachusetts ballots

One year after the 2016 presidential election sent a shock through the political world, local women made waves of their own on municipal ballots across Massachusetts.

Gerry Tuoti Wicked Local Newsbank Editor

One year after the 2016 presidential election sent a shock through the political world, local women made waves of their own on municipal ballots across Massachusetts.

“This is a movement,” said Manisha Bewtra, who won a seat on the Melrose Board of Alderman in the Nov. 7 election. “A lot of us were jolted out of our excuses and into action. Those who have jumped in saw the opportunity to get involved in all levels of government.”

Bewtra, an urban planner who had previously considered running for local office, said Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton last year gave her the push she needed to actually file papers to run.

“I think last year gave a sense of urgency because those values were being so explicitly threatened,” she said.

The Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus endorsed a record 36 candidates across 16 communities, said Linnea Walsh, interim executive director of the non-partisan organization. Of those 36 candidates, 29 won their races.

Yvonne Spicer was elected the first mayor in the history of Framingham, which is transitioning from a town to city form of government. In Newton, Ruthanne Fuller became the first woman elected mayor in that city. Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll won re-election.

Women found success in Boston as well, winning six seats on the 13-member Boston City Council.

Emerge Massachusetts, a Democratic organization dedicated to finding and training women to run for office, had to double the number of applicants it allowed into its program to meet demand this year.

The organization had 60 of its alumni run this year, with 42 winning their races and one to be decided in a future special election.

Despite the gains, women still remain underrepresented in government. In the Massachusetts Legislature, for example, just 26 percent of lawmakers are women. Statewide, women make up 51.5 percent of the population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Ryanne Olsen, executive director of Emerge Massachusetts, said she views the gains women have made as a trend rather than a momentary phenomenon.

“I think we are right at the turning point of turning a blip to a surge,” she said. “I think we are really on the precipice of making strong gains toward more representative government.”

A recent and ongoing public dialogue about sexual harassment and assault in the entertainment industry and in government, she said, has helped bring the topic of gender inequality into mainstream consciousness.

Sumbul Siddiqui just became the first Muslim woman elected to the Cambridge City Council. The legal aid attorney, who grew up in public housing in Cambridge, said the city’s diversity hasn’t always been represented in municipal government.

“Our council had two women and was mostly white men,” she said.

Following the Nov. 7 election, there will be four women on the council.

While Siddiqui thinks it’s generally positive for elected boards to reflect the communities they serve, she didn’t want to be defined solely as “the woman candidate” or “the Muslim candidate.”

“I think my personal background played a role, just looking around and seeing the lack of diversity,” she said. “But I wanted voters to know I am a qualified person, an attorney who’s been very involved in the community, who happens to be Muslim and who happens to be a woman.”

Another sign that women are increasingly becoming involved in local government came in the Nov. 14 Brookline Town Meeting, where voters approved an article that changed the name of the town’s Board of Selectmen to the “Select Board.” The old name, proponents said, fed into an outdated perception that government leaders should be men. To prove a symbolic point, there was also a separate proposal to rename the board the “Board of Selectwomen,” later amended to “Board of Select Persons.”

Heather Hamilton, an Emerge alumna, won a seat on the Brookline Select Board in May.

She supported changing the board’s name to a gender-neutral title.

“When I was told by a friend that I should think about running for selectman, I scoffed at the idea at first,” she said. “There was this idea that someone on the board is married, has children and is a man. We need to be a little more inclusive so we have more people who might be interested. If a name change is what it takes, then I’m for it.”